Dusk to dawn luminaires are generally used to provide outdoor lighting during dark hours of the day, and are often used in open areas such as farms as nighttime security lighting. Conventionally, dusk to dawn luminaires use high intensity discharge (HID) lamps as light sources. Such luminaires are also used with a particular reflector/refractor design which is controlled and standardized according to American National Standardization Institute (ANSI) standards.
However, dusk to dawn luminaires are an example of nighttime lighting that may contribute to light pollution. More generally, increase in industrialization has caused an increase in use of many types of lighting, including interior building light, street lamps, commercial signage lights, safety lights, and the like. As a side effect of increased lighting needs, the amount of light pollution has increased as well. One solution for decreasing the amount of light pollution is the use of full cutoff luminaires. Full cutoff luminaires are generally configured to direct light downward and eliminate uplight, or illumination above the horizontal of the luminaire.
Thus, it would be beneficial for dusk to dawn luminaires to be configured as full cutoff luminaires. Additionally, the lighting industry has recognized the advantages of light emitting diode (LED) light sources over more traditional light sources, such as HID lamps. However, many challenges have prevented the effective design of a full cutoff LED dusk to dawn luminaire. Such challenges include, but are not limited to, the fact that LED light sources have different power and heat dissipation needs, which require different electrical and structural design. Additionally, users of dusk to dawn luminaires are familiar with and often require their dusk to dawn luminaires to be compatible with the conventional ANSI standard reflector/refractor.